Wait, Russia isn’t a Democracy?

Russian police arrested an opposition leader for holding a freedom-type rally on Russia’s Flag Day. Police claimed Boris Nemtsov was trying to provoke anti-government protests and goad the police into a scandalous arrest.

Opposition activists won the support of some of Russia’s best-known rock musicians to play at a protest rally in central Moscow on Sunday evening that drew more than 1,000 people. The rally was part of a broad campaign to try to stop the destruction of a centuries-old oak forest that is soon to be cut down so a highway can be built from Moscow to St. Petersburg.

City authorities gave permission for the rally to be held, but said no sound equipment could be used, only megaphones.

Yury Shevchuk, a rock star who attracted wider fame after a televised confrontation with Putin, opened the rally with two songs played on an acoustic guitar.

In his exchange with Putin in May, Shevchuk challenged him to allow Russians to hold anti-government protests.